Old Easter Baskets

These are the only two I kept, a matching set for my twin brother Bruce and me. I get them out every year and fill with miscellaneous memorabilia. Look closely, and you can see that the date on the photo of me says: 1959. The bottom of one of the baskets says: “79 cents.”

We're not holding our baskets in this photograph, but same era.
And, yes, I am wearing white gloves and holding an egg!

I still have the little lace purse for Ellie to play with:

A year ago, my friend Steven and I were discussing our childhood Easter baskets, and I was very impressed to learn that he still had (or had until very recently) the same basket from his very first Easter!

Steven clarified: "Alas, my Easter Basket was falling apart, so I decorated it with flowers and used it on the set for The Miser two years ago. It now has a new life, after 70 years. It was mine as a child. I think my mother must have gotten it at Woolworth's. It came back to me after my grandmother died. I used it for keys and other stuff, but finally it couldn't stand on its own. I was going to have it remade, but decided it should be a prop instead."

A good life for a cherished item! Sometimes a new life is for the best, right?!

I left my stash of Easter baskets and Easter grass behind when we down-sized from Indiana to Virginia. Now I just throw everything into gift bag, or grab a bowl from the kitchen. In fact, to verify, here is some evidence from my photo album of “Stuff we gave away”:

I even gave these away, the closest Ben and Sam ever came to matching baskets. Well, yes, they matched, but they never grew dear to anyone's heart over the years the way mine and Bruce's had. So I let them go.

And of course I kept our favorite Easter Story Book!